Your bargaining team spent two days in talks with CP management last week, and further talks are scheduled for the week of February 23.

The two sides have moved closer on a number of issues. On the non-monetary side, we have agreed in principle to give more authority and more weight to the joint Employer/Employee Committee. Both CP management and CMG see the wisdom in being able to talk about issues before they become significant problems – matters like management of employee performance and our dispute resolution procedure.

We have had some very good discussions about part-time employees and how they are used. We have talked about a better mechanism for dealing with situations where part-time employees are called upon to work full-time hours on an ongoing basis, as well as the probationary period which is currently longer for part-timers than for their full-time colleagues.

We are reviewing the current language around layoff and recall, with an eye to ensuring that the rules are fair, practical and easier to understand and administer.

On the monetary side, we have had some talks about the company’s desire to move all employees to a “pay as you go” or “current salary” model. As it currently stands, many CP employees are paid in advance – by up to two weeks. To manage its cash flow more efficiently, the company wants to move to a system where employees are paid after the work is performed. This means that some salary will have to be recovered from each employee. (part-timers have been paid on this basis for a while now so aren’t affected). The company is prepared to discuss the implementation of this system with us to make sure that no one is adversely affected by the change.

On the pension issue we still have some work to do. The company continues to look for relief, and so far neither CMG nor CP have come up with a solution that accommodates both sides’ needs. It’s clear this will be our most important task in the coming days.

As for salary: neither side has presented a proposal yet for overall salary increases. We all understand that whatever progress, or lack thereof, we make on the pension issue will have an impact on the salary side.

We’ll continue to keep you posted. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Your bargaining Committee:
Riaz Ladha
Michel Lamarche
Terry Pedwell, President, CP branch
Keith Maskell, CMG staff representative